A group of employees and ex-employees of the Colombian branch of General Motors began a hunger strike in front of the U.S. embassy in Bogota Wednesday to protest the firing of colleagues on sick leave.

The factory workers set up a provisional shelter in front of the embassy Wednesday evening, demanding the company respect labor laws, and talks with the American ambassador and Colombian government.

General Motors "is firing us without just cause, harming us and our families. We are taking this decision because our health has worsened day by day, we have lost our homes, we're basically on the street and we have been forgotten by the government," one of the protesters told Caracol Radio.

~snip~

The (ex-) workers told the radio station that while the U.S. government is demanding Colombia to respect labor rights, the U.S.' largest car producer itself is violating the rights of its Colombian workers.

1. Globalization was never about bringing up standards to people in other countries.

It's about multi-national corporations exploiting difference between countries' wages, regulations, currency exchange rates and other economic and social factors. They attempt to exploit workers in these countries and when it becomes less lucrative, they just move out to another country and repeat the same thing.